Preview
  • The Home Place

  • Memoirs of a Colored Man's Love Affair with Nature
  • By: J. Drew Lanham
  • Narrated by: J. Drew Lanham
  • Length: 6 hrs and 48 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (241 ratings)

Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts.
You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
Audible Plus auto-renews for $7.95/mo after 30 days. Upgrade or cancel anytime.

The Home Place

By: J. Drew Lanham
Narrated by: J. Drew Lanham
Try for $0.00

$7.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $17.19

Buy for $17.19

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

From the fertile soils of love, land, identity, family, and race emerges The Home Place, a big-hearted, unforgettable memoir by ornithologist J. Drew Lanham.

Dating back to slavery, Edgefield County, South Carolina - a place "easy to pass by on the way somewhere else" - has been home to generations of Lanhams. In The Home Place, listeners meet these extraordinary people, including Drew himself, who over the course of the 1970s falls in love with the natural world around him. As his passion takes flight, however, he begins to ask what it means to be "the rare bird, the oddity".

By turns angry, funny, elegiac, and heartbreaking, The Home Place is a remarkable meditation on nature and belonging, at once a deeply moving memoir and riveting exploration of the contradictions of Black identity in the rural South - and in America today.

©2016 J. Drew Lanham (P)2019 Tantor
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What listeners say about The Home Place

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    190
  • 4 Stars
    35
  • 3 Stars
    12
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    177
  • 4 Stars
    17
  • 3 Stars
    6
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    163
  • 4 Stars
    27
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Beautiful Description and Storytelling

J Drew Lanham is a beautiful storyteller. The words are rich, intimate and bring the reader (listener) fully into his experience and world. I really loved his book and his narration.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful book!

I was already familiar with Dr. Lanham as a birder and scientist, and was delighted to discover his talents as a writer. This is a beautifully written book with the added benefit of narration by the author.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful story, Told beautifully

I really enjoyed this book. J. Lanham has a wonderful way with words and descriptions with science and poetry all mixed into one great book. I highly recommend!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Very Good

I got this title as part of the Plus program but it would've been well worth a credit. I thought it was a very thought-provoking listen.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Beautiful in every way

What a wonderful book- I normally don't have the time nor have found a book that I wanted to write a review for, this is how much I enjoyed it-the story is a wonderful mix of history, love of the land and South Carolina, love of nature, love of family- just joyful. I'm a birder and the descriptions and observations of the birds was very accurate and painted a beautiful image in my mind as I listened. What he has shared will stay with me always. The narration by the author was the cherry on top. Thank you for sharing your life!!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Out of my normal realm

As a SC low country native, the authors love of nature & the home place resonated deeply with me. Sometimes I long to return to the home I once knew but know that home place no longer exists. The story felt familiar though it was not my own.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Work worth reading

Should be required reading for high school students and teachers. Also book clubs. Thought provocin

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Beautifully Done

I have so enjoyed listening to this book. You can feel the author’s love for his home place, his family and the land.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Loved it

Thank you for sharing your story, and including all the ancestors (human and otherwise) and history.
Beautiful.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Budding Ornithologist in the making!

I so loved this book! I read it in my quest to teach my young students about an African American Ornithologist for Black History Month. My Kindergartens affectionately call him the ‘brown birder’ and are so excited when Its time to learn something else about Dr. Lanham. My son, who is a recent environmental studies graduate, turned me onto Dr. Lanham and I have not looked back. Great laugh out loud moments from his upbringing that are so familiar and so much more that made me want to learn more about nature. What a rich, familiar, heartfelt story! Loved every second of it! Thank you for sharing it with us!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!